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Copper in Ancient India c6.s2: The Brāhman Age (Circa 1000 B.C.—500 B.C.)

Copper in Ancient India c6.s2

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The Brāhman Age (Circa 1000 B.C.—500 B.C.)

c6.s2.1

In the Brāhman Age copper continues to be designated, as has already been pointed out, as the “red metal.” The word *lohitāyas* occurs in the Taittiriya Samhitā (IV, 7, 5, 1) as distinguished from *śyāma* or “black metal.”⁴ It also occurs in the Maitrāyni Samhitā (II, 11, 5 and IV, 44) and in the Kathaka Samhitā (XVIII, 10).

c6.s2.2

⁴ हिरण्य च मे &c. with the exception that *lohitāyas* is used in the place of *loha*

c6.s2.3

Its other variant *loha* occurs in the Satapatha Brāhman (XIII, 2, 2, 18). Chhāndogya Upanishad (IV, 17, 7, and VI, 1, 5)¹ and Jaimini Upanishad Brāhman (IV, 1, 4).

c6.s2.4

¹ लवणेन सुवर्णे संदध्यात् सुवर्णेन रजतेन, लघु, लपुपुण सीसं, सीसेन लोहं, लोहेन दारू चर्मणा--Chhāndogya Upanishad, IV, 17, 7. एकेन लोहमनिना सव्वं लोह मयं विज्ञानं स्यात् एकेन नसनिकृन्ततेन सव्वं कार्यवयं विज्ञातस्यात्--Chhāndogya Upanishad, VI, 1, 5.

c6.s2.5

The third variant *lohāyas* is mentioned in the Satapatha Brāhman (V, 4, 1, 2) where it is distinguished from *ayas* and gold. It also occurs in the Jaimini Upanishad Brāhman (III. 17, 3) in contrast to *Karsnāyas* and in the Taittiriya Brāhman (III, 62, 6, 5) in opposition to *Krishnāyas* meaning "black metal" or iron.²

c6.s2.6

² Macdonell & Kieth, *Vedic Index*.

c6.s2.7

In all these passages the sense of copper is extremely clear.

c6.s2.8

From the consideration of the foregoing passage in the Vedas and the Brāhmans relating to copper, it appears that copper was possibly unknown to the early Aryans at the time when the Rigveda was written (circa 2000 B.C.) as it is not mentioned in it. The Rigveda, however, makes copious mention of two metals, gold and iron, in which, it is to be noted, India has been pre-eminently rich in all ages.³ As copper is mentioned once in the White Yajurveda, which was composed later than the Rigveda, it is apparent that it was known at the time when the Yajurveda was written, though from the frequent mention of copper in the Atharvaveda (1000 B.C.) and the Brāhmans it can easily be surmised that copper came into general use amongst the early Aryans at about 1000 B.C.

c6.s2.9

³ As regards Indian iron see author's *Iron in Ancient India*,

c6.s2.10

Enough evidence has been adduced in the author's *Iron in Ancient India* (pp. 3-7) to show that the use of iron and iron weapons was well-known at the time when the Rigveda was composed not to speak of the times of the later Vedas and the Brāhmans. The general use of copper by the first Aryan settlers appears to be distinctly later as it is not mentioned in the earliest of the Vedas. In the Rigveda we find that arrows were "tipped with iron" though we come across with a "copper knife" (p. 7) in the Atharvaveda. It is possible that a copper knife, owing to the peculiar sanctity, attached by the Hindus to copper, might have been used in the sacrifices. Even taking it for granted for the sake of argument that the mention of a copper knife in the Atharvaveda presupposes the use of copper as a material for making weapons, there is hardly anything to be wondered at this, as, so long as the process of hardening iron by quenching or the process of steel-making is not discovered there is not much to choose between malleable iron and copper, though bronze would certainly be more preferable to copper being in point of hardness more approachable to iron. Bronze does not appear to have been known in the Vedic Age¹ and as a matter of fact there was no bronze age in India at all (see bronze). The process of hardening iron by quenching, as well as steel were certainly discovered in India as early as the third century B.C. as both are mentioned in the well-known medical treatise of Sushruta and it is possible that during the Vedic age, in addition to iron, copper might have sometimes been used as a material for making weapons.

c6.s2.11

¹ As both copper and tin are not mentioned in the Rig Veda, Macdonell and Kieth's contention that "ayas" in the Rig Veda means "bronze" is untenable.

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